


Bleeding Gold

by bigaddfitchner



Series: Red Rising Crack Ships [1]
Category: Red Rising Series - Pierce Brown
Genre: F/M, It should take place somewhere around Golden Son, crack ship, i love it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:55:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21745615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigaddfitchner/pseuds/bigaddfitchner
Summary: The prisoners were brought. Traitors of the society were hauled in the Bellona estate under the request of Julia au Bellona herself. The Gold woman assigns her two sons: Cassius and Karnus, to take care of the two Red monsters in her basement and everything would've been good, if it was not for her young son's curious wit.
Relationships: Cassius au Bellona/Harmony
Series: Red Rising Crack Ships [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1567267
Comments: 4
Kudos: 4





	1. Ruster

**Author's Note:**

> In my defense, this ship was suggested to me and I couldn't say no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello... I actually really like this one lol
> 
> (sorry for any mistake that could've slipped into the text - I was too excited to post it)

_**CASSIUS** _

* * *

**12 AM**

The prisoners were brought. Everything unrolled in silence and no breath was wasted - as commanded by Julia, the head-strong woman that controls even the tinniest shadow that lurks in the insides and outsides of her estate. She is fiery, nothing to be challenged, and, as everyone acknowledge even before Cassius himself was even born, there is no escape to the duty of all: obey to her orders. 

One of them was to haul the traitors of society in her own house, to be punished by her own rules and by the merciless hands of the Bellonas. Cassius was just sleeping when the havoc unleashed, rattling him and the beautiful women besides him alike.

Their names were something short, with a mellow sonority to them, but still not enough for them to remain plastered on his mind. He is a gentleman, of course, and as one should act, he didn't dare to hurry them. Not even when the door of his bedroom creaked to reveal the stately silhouette of his brother, Karnus, just propped by the threshold. He didn't need words to send frigid chills across the room, to Cassius and the girls that didn't know how to dress themselves faster, still thinking, most probably, how little they relish Karnus' sight. 

Those Gold girls Cassius watched almost leaping in their way to exit, were something cute and fragile, looking so stunted even beneath the mere regard of Karnus. It was nothing odd in the way their mild expressions became tormented by strong feelings when his brother's voice, until then quiet, disturbed their euphoria even more:

''Mother asked for your presence.'' 

His words stuck to him long after he joined him in his way. Karnus is at least not drunk, he thanks to Jove, and maybe it is what keeps him strained. Tension arises powerful and loud from the Gold man, whose muscles are all clenched and fists are throbbing, like begging for the chance to use them in the most violent, disgusting way. Cassius breathes in. 

He prefers to think much lighter. For now, if not forever. He has his own grudges, but they are tamed somewhere, just inches beneath the surface. Darrow's face is a ghost that will never leave, Cassius knows for sure. Even if death will bring that gorydamn bastard with his hands tied and unable to kill another innocent soul again, Cassius would be still hunted by him. His soul, however, is heavy for another reason. 

They pass by two Obsidians. They don't look back at them. Not like Karnus would've lifted his gaze, but Cassius surely did, as waiting for them to be a remedy for his thoughts.

Cassius snorts at the thought - silent, unsure, and he asks himself what opinion would Mustang have about what they are doing now.

He glares to the door from in front. Would she approve it? Cassius chews his lip. Would it really matter if she wouldn't? 

A strong twinge at the back of his head wakes Cassius up. A hand snaps up to the hurtful place and his eyes dart where his brother is. He is waiting, with a grin smirked on his face - slagging bastard.

''Take those thoughts and shove them in your butt, Prince Charming. We have things to do,'' His big hand grips on the metallic doorknob. ''We need you lucid.''

Cassius furrows his golden brows. 

''I see you are lucid enough for us both, brother.''

Their eyes lock unfriendly gazes. 

''Drunk or not, I can still break those teeth you have in your beautiful mouth. Don't challenge me. I don't want my joints to hurt when I need them the most,'' His smile is wide, wicked and a soothsayer for the worst. ''And believe me, Cassius, I will need them real bad.''

Cassius watches as Karnus opens the door. He throws his last glance behind, to the hallway silent and obedient, with doors locked and ears clogged. No one wants to make Julia mad. His mouth remains sealed with wrought iron as he steps inside - in the void, with only his brother to guide him. 

Such a bad decision. 

*

Cassius watches from a corner.

What does he watch?

He tilts his head a bit, his eyes more squinted than they were before. Is it a showcase of power?

Karnus lets out a strong sound, much closer than the roar of a beast than anything that could slip from a human's throat. His hands lifts in air with pride and glory, and his eyes, seeming to glimmer in their wait for applause and cheering, are roaming around. A Red man is laying besides him. No breath for him. Is he dead?

Cassius frowns.

He waits a heartbeat. And a second. 

The Red man opens his eyes. Karnus didn't yet put an ending to his task, or perhaps he was not even asked to kill that man. Is hard to say what their mother desires anymore.

Karnus looks at his little brother. 

''Ey, what do you think?'' He asks Cassius, laying a step ahead. ''That's what I would call a valuable show, my dear little brother. Nothing those Violets can provide will ever able to match the satisfaction of watching a slagging,'' Karnus spins around and faster than light, he hits the Red with his foot. ''Worm being knocked out for good.''

Cassius was abandoned long ago by the flare that embraced Karnus. He feels cold - so cold, when he hears the muffed moans of the Red. 

''Are you sure mom asked you to..,,'' His eyes fall on the slack body. ''Beat him up?''

Karnus chortles. He backs off, his steps like energetic bounces that sends him next to his victim again. 

''And even if she didn't, Cassius,'' Karnus says, sitting down on the Red's back. ''I would've still done it. Not to this degree, of course,'' He drums with his palms on the Rustler's head. ''But, somehow, don't ask me how, my leg would've merely slid in his ribs. Nothing particularly striking. No one would've batted an eye!'' 

His mouth curls without intent, not knowing if his wry expression comes from his brother's words or the wretched eyes that glare straight to his. He knows that the man, as his counterpart, lost somewhere in musk, are nothing but litter of the society.

Rebels.

Killers.

Cold-blooded monsters, but his bleeding face begs for a grain of undeserved pity.

It makes Cassius to sit uneasy on his own legs.

''Come on,'' Karnus' lower lip sticks, scoffing at his hard feelings. ''Don't tell me you are now soulful.''

''What you do is unnecessary, Karnus.'' 

Karnus rises on legs. The Red man sighs, so powerful, it could've been as well his last drop of strength.

''Oh, it slagging is necessary! I didn't drink one gorydamn drop of anything for this moment and I will make it worth it! Plus,'' He stops, with a smile to announce a short process of contemplation: ''If you are so bored to watch your bigger, more able brother, doing the job you, pissy boy, can't do, why aren't you making yourself useful?'' Karnus points somewhere in the darkness. ''Come, use those Pixie hands on that Red bitch.''

Cassius snorts. 

''I don't waste my time torturing lowers. That's your job.''

''Eh!'' His brother rises a finger and his foot goes down the Red's head, pushing his lifted face back to the floor. ''Is it just me here? Come, Cassy, I know you were always the gallant moron, but someone needs to snap you out of this role. Aren't you bored sometimes, to fling your Razor and call it righteous honor? Your mommy gave you two functional fists and now a brand-new role.''

Karnus never understood his ways. His joints are blood-thirsty and ever yearning for trouble, while Cassius...

He looks down at his hands. 

''I am a generous guy. I give you the lady. It is an easy start in the long, astonishing, process of getting your head out of your goryass.''

Cassius is not a monster.

However, limiting to a mean look thrown behind his shoulder, he obeys with no further words. Not because he didn't have a plenty of thoughts only good to be transposed in a filthy exchange, but because he doesn't feel in mood to be splashing with his brother in mud. It never ended good and, as it is Karnus' element, it especially didn't turn out fine for Cassius. 

He runs a hand in his ringlets, lifting his chin as he watches the dim path, only slightly countered by neon lights sprinkled on the walls.

He is a honorable man, with a honorable way of doing. It will come to the moment to prove it, but in front of him, there will be Darrow au Andromedus, not Karnus or a rebel woman waiting her punishment. 

It will be those golden eyes. However, before reaching them, the mere chance of letting from them dark grooves that will finally avenge Julian, he has to face something else. 

A Red woman is hanging from the ceiling, with her hands brought together in chains. Cassius is far away from her, but he can still unravel a few features from that distance.

The Rustler-typical hair and eyes are present - nothing special from a first glance, but there is more than that. 

A scar - big, prominent - is soiling her features. He can barely see them, so the desire alone to stare better is what urges him to step closer.

Cassius barely brought his face nearer when her head cocked to his. So sudden, he steps behind. 

The image makes her smile. 

No.

It is not a smile. 

Is a gorydamned sneer.

''You are not who I waited for,'' She hisses in his face. ''You are not that bloody brute.'' Her head tilts to side. ''What a shame. It will probably be not so fun.''

''Fun?'' Cassius finds himself asking, surprised. ''What can be fun in being beaten up, Rustler? Is it kind of a satisfaction your kind has?''

''We habituate it so much to be beaten up by your Greys, it started to arouse us,'' The woman spits in his face. ''But no.''

Cassius lets out a whispered growl. He runs a hand across his face.

Disgusting. 

''It is not as fun to spit in the face of a twat that looks like the stupidest parrot in the bloody world.''

His eyes snap to hers. Red irises are sizzling, waiting to challenge him even more. 

His hand rises, his fingers wrapping on the woman's face. 

''Don't force my hand here, Rustler. I came with good intentions, as far as a criminal like you deserve,'' He tells her. ''Don't make it too hard.''

''For who? For you, Golden Brow?'' She smiles through pain, so graceful and bright, Cassius even finds himself lost in it's light. ''I can't ever make your life harder, Prince. I tried. I bloody tried! But you and your people, those pussies so drunk and overfed, have servants to wipe away every anguish we cause you. Me spitting in your face? Don't worry, Gold, you will have probably another Red run a tongue on your face to clean you up.''

He is not happy with what he is doing. 

Cassius lets go off her head, so sudden and strong, it bounces back. She hits herself to the stone, but even then, she doesn't yelp. 

The Rustler only breathes in all her pain. She is steady, it seems. 

"It is how you, Rustlers, think everything is working here? With us? Someone to be always there to clean our mess? And what else?"

"Us? Rustlers?" The woman laughs. "No, Goldy," Her smile dies just as sudden as her giggle. "Rustlers, as you know them, those shits that are working and dying in the mine in this very second, they don't know a bloodyfuck about what you do here, but I do." 

"You know wrong." 

The woman stretches her head.

It reaches to be so close to Cassius, with such a nerve of iron, that he remains petrified. A Red, breaking the distance in a manner he thought to be impossible until then: he can't allow this, he reminds to himself, but her breath is close. 

It doesn't smell good. It smells sour, scent of blood tumbling in air, but he ignores his own thoughts. 

"Of course, what does a stupid Rustler knows?"

He lets her talk.

"Slanders, it seems. Who taught you like that, Red? Was it Ares?"

"I don't need Ares to tell me what some big pigs you and your kind are. I have eyes and plenty of dead friends to prove me."

Cassius frowns.

"Dead friends, you say?"

''Dead, rooting. They are laying with no eyes, no noses, somewhere where Greys will throw bodies they don't like,'' The woman scowls to him and so, she becomes even uglier in the dim light. ''Or the bodies you don't like, to be more exact. However, I can't deny you, bloody animals, gave a right to the people of society:''

''Enlighten me, Ruster.''

It is a unique chance in life and he wants to take it - to face this Rustler, as he would be confronting his worst enemy. Maybe as such, he will be able to use his wrath, his power, as he would want to do against Darrow. 

This woman and Darrow are so alike - grubs thinking they are high enough to challenge him.

Let it be, then.

''You gave them the right to massacre us all. We gave ourselves the right to pay you with the same coin.''

Cassius snorts. 

He looks down to his hands, where is sitting a golden wolf head: it asks him to let out the worst of himself, but not yet.

It is not the time. 

''We respect and value Reds.'' He speaks, in defense of his kin. ''They are heroes for our society and...,''

The Red spits him in face again. Cassius lets out a low growl.

His blood becomes fervent. 

''Who the fuck do you think believes you, you stomped parrot?'' She unleashes her fervor to him, with her unclean teeth all barred at him. ''I will believe you when all you will have left to eat are these motherfucking words. Lets see then if you are going to survive eating your own crap!'' 

The man steps in back.

''I have too much honor to sit so low on my knees,'' He mumbles, his eyes lifting to her. ''So I can face you.'' 

''It was always like this, killer.''

He is not a killer.

Darrow au Andromedus in a killer. Karnus is a killer. And she is a killer, but not him.

Cassius is not a killer: he will not stand to be called one, to be put in the same category were all the lowest belong. 

''Come on,'' She bids, teasing the fire that strike his veins. ''Don't be a bloody pussy, hit me. End with this all or, I swear on the Vale, you idiot, that I will get out. Not because I want to live, but because I want to make your live a sick hell.''

Instead of taking action and letting his fist talk louder than his ration, as Karnus would've done, Cassius steps back. It is not an easy task, to watch her eyes' light grow mighty with his apparent surrender. It pierces through his ego and heart, but he needs to be patient. 

He roams on a tight square of space from in front of her. He is still close enough so that her hatred, her blind anger, can relish on his image, but far enough for chains to break any closure her sick mind would yearn for. 

''You are mute now, huh?'' The Red laughs, but there is nothing genuine in the way her shoulders tremble. ''There is so much a poor Gold can handle.''

It is when he finally stops encircling for thoughts and their eyes, cussing one another, finally meet again.

''What do you know about the Gold life, Ruster?''

''What do you know about the Ruster life, Gold?''

His Razor is sitting too tame while coiled around his arm. Cassius snatches it away from it's place and, turning it into a sword, he spikes the ground beneath: his innards chortles at the thought it could've been Darrow's chest. 

''You pretend you know about our lives, about what we do and how we live our lives. For such crime, Red, you could've been easily punished by Greys.''

''I've been punished for things much smaller.'' 

Cassius smirks.

He doesn't know why, but her words amuses him: not slight in a colourful, light-filled manner as memories from far away do. Memories in which his brother is still alive, breathing and enjoying the life that was settled for him and that he rightfully should've inherited.

Looking at the Rustler with her scarred face, he finds another type of amusement: a cold, freezing one.

''Consider it your chance to talk,'' He talks, disengaging the Razor from ground and pointing it's sharp, threatening end to her: in front of her fearless gaze, it looks like a joke. ''And to listen.'' 

''I can't wait,'' She talks with her filthy Red tongue. ''It is not like your kind's words were my lullaby every single night I was falling asleep hopping to die along with my starving people.''

Her words disturb him. Their bitter taste rumples his soul, but he strives through feelings.

He lifts her chin up with his blade, an act that, to his surprise, comes with no resistance. 

''We are dying as well, Ruster. Innocent Golds are falling at knees of brutes and mucks. We know what grief is like. We feel it every day and at every step. A hierarchy has never spared us from this.''

''But at least you have a choice,''

Cassius' eyebrows rise.

''It is your bloody choice to kill your own people. You won't catch me shed a tear for your fallen. They don't mean shit to me.''

His eyes gleam.

The blade looks now so handy, yet bleak as it is: her blood can fill it rightfully. It can seal her gory mouth - unknown and stupid.

He is sunken in heat. He is trickling down with it: how does she dare to talk as such about their dead?

About Julian?

He should do as Karnus told him to: make her suffer. Prove he is no coward and let blood to spill for her words, but his hand lowers. He lets only a small trace of blood on her chin, but at least her throat is clean. 

Intact. 

Julian would have turned in gave seeing him being merciless to a being so little. Even knowing she is a criminal, he would've had the power to forgive. 

''If it was not for my code, Red, I would've stomped you to death.'' 

The woman smiles. For the first time in minutes spent boiling, the Red seems real: a living being, authentic in her joy. 

''Bad for you. I have no code to prevent me from doing this to you.''

And every single drop of that joy is stifled in blood.

A sour taste fills his mouth.

She doesn't even deserve his glance laid upon her, even so, Cassius keeps heading in front. 

Once again, they are one in front of another, separated by now little to no space. She won't even blink. 

''What's your name?'' 

She is not worth anything. 

Attention or time, but her bravery won't cease from peaking his interest. 

''Tell me, Ruster, what's your name?'' 

''Come on, Golden Brow, I know you can find out a rebel's name pretty quick. You are just embarrassing yourself.'' 

''But I want to find out from you and I will.''

Echo cracks as thunder behind.

Steps. 

They come closer and closer. There is only one person whose feet will walk the riddled ground with such confidence. 

The Red woman sniffs the air, letting a strong sigh as she talks again:

''You smell like fear,'' She grins to him. ''And roses, maybe,''

''Little brother, little brother!'' Karnus' voice pound the air. ''Don't hide yourself in darkness. There is nothing you can do to that Red bitch that your older brother didn't try first handly and proudly.''

The Red tilts her head to side, the little light they have from beneath now falling on her healthy side. She is not such an ugly woman, after all, but she surely is callous. Abrasive as stone.

Her lips are still curved in a merciless smile, with no happiness in it anymore. 

Only pure malice.

''Sometimes, even the Golds need to earn their rights.'' The Red whispers. 

''Oh!'' Karnus sighs, now from behind them. ''Here you were, Cassius, boy. You didn't respond to my calls and I was getting worried that the vile Rustler may have eaten you alive!''

Cassius is still close to the Red woman when Karnus approaches. His steps are so sure and bold, Cassius swears they are able to break through stone.

''What are you two doing here, naughty? French kissing?'' His big hand cups on Cassius' shoulder, hurling him to side. ''Back off, prince. Let me see what you did here,''

Cassius dangles rearwards, his blood now running hot. Karnus' presence makes his fists clench with a hatred much greater than any of that woman's words could. 

''Poor Rustler,'' Karnus then says, with a few fingers clipped on the woman's chin. ''You are so, so ugly, yet so, so clean,'' His eyes rise to Cassius'. ''Come on, Cass, you didn't even try!'' 

The man pushes her head in back, so strong, this time the impact with the wall is impossible to tame: the Rustler breaks into a low moan.

Karnus props a hand to the stone wall and another on his hip, as his eyes scan unfriendly and disappointed his little brother:

''Do I really need to guide you with all the shit?''

''I have my own way of handling the situation, Karnus,'' Cassius responds through teeth. 

Karnus clicks his tongue. 

''What are you going to do, then? Handle the situation by reciting this bitch from Seneca?'' His mouth curves in disgust. ''I bet she doesn't even know how to read.''

''I can read the letters from your grave, you filthy asshole.'' The Red barks. 

Cassius smiles, not able to control himself. Perhaps it is the sight of his joy that angers Karnus even more. 

The bigger man turns around to the Ruster.

''Oh, yeah? Well, watch here, little brother and let me show you how a real man handles the situation,''

Before Cassius can even step in, Karnus strikes the woman with a strong punch in stomach. The impact makes her cower and yelp helplessly as she is knocked to the wall again.

''KARNUS!''

''You useless bitches, got bored of being screwed and beaten by your dirty husbands,'' Karnus growls, wrapping his fingers in her hair. ''And decided to readjust. I will show you how readjusting is like truly.''

''Karnus, step out. Now!'' 

Karnus' mouth open to banter him, but he remains speechless. Cassius' Razor is lifted just right beneath his brother's nose.

''Get your hands off the Ruster,'' Cassius demands, his eyes pointing to the woman. ''She is mine. You said it yourself.''

The Gold man gives one last dirty regard to the Rustler, before once again releasing her into the most brutal way possible. For this time, the Red woman doesn't bang her head, It falls almost lifeless, if it was not for her blazing eyes to announce life is running truly in her veins.

''I was just showing you, brother,'' Karnus tells him, lifting his hands up as he passes by Cassius. ''But no need to worry. The most a beating can do to her is to spice her up, in case you have desires. Pretty eccentric ones, I would say, but valid nonetheless.''

Cassius steps in, now shielding the prisoner. 

''You are sick.''

''Sick?'' Karnus' puts a hand to his chest. ''Brother, you hurt my feelings. Sick is bombing innocent lives for no reason,'' His eyes slip over Cassius' shoulder. ''Or maybe protecting shitheads that do that. Only maybe.''

''I am just doing my job, as I promised, compared to you. You have no gory spine, Karnus.''

''It is raw instinct that I am helping you: I know you tend to get lost even in the most insignificant shits.''

Karnus turns his back, but won't dare to let an opportunity to make fun of Cassius fall apart: 

''And also, brother, about my spine... If you are so concerned about it, note that I truly don't have it,'' Cassius shift to not see him, but he can still feel Karnus' gaze roaming on his nape. ''I lost it while fighting to make others regain respect for a slagging coward.''

His head turns to the Ruster woman, who finds the power to talk further, despite the strong punch she received only a minute ago: 

"He is a bitch." She snarls. 

"I know." Cassius sighs. 

And after that, as they would've been two buddies that just exhausted all the subjects to tattle about, they sit in silence. Karnus may be peeking an ear somewhere close: it doesn't matter.

Cassius lets his tense shoulders fall easy and look, with no initial intention, to the Red. She is not exchanging gazes with him. She won't eye his childish, dangerous curiosity. She only sit with her head bowed and her eyes to the ground. 

What is she thinking about? 

Cassius curves his mouth.

It won't matter, anyway: in the end, she is a criminal. A ruthless animal stuck at it's most primitive state: people like her can't comprehend the true meaning of the hierarchy, but something...

Something interesting is lurking around her. The Rustler hides a story he may not be supposed to know, but maybe, only maybe, it will be enough to carry himself away from his thoughts.

With hope in his soul, Cassius steps further.

Him approaching could mean anything. Danger. Death, even, but for the Red, it is like he wouldn't exist. He furrows his brows. Such an audacity. 

"What's your name?" He asks again.

And with the same courage as before, the Ruster responds: 

"For a man so rich, you still don't have money to clean your bloody ears... Tragic. Wash them. They are full of wax and you can't hear the slaves " 

"At least look me in the eyes when you are insulting me, prisoner." 

Red eyes are looming through greasy strands of hair.

Her existence as a whole is sputtering fire, he sees it from her eyes, but it can't touch Cassius: her rage is no match to his. 

"You never looked in ours when you insulted us." 

"Consider it your chance, then, if it is the problem,'' He tells to the woman. "A Gold is seeing you. Not any, but Cassius au Bellona. Olympic Knight.''

''Such a great chance...to hear your Gold titles. All a Ruster could wish for,'' She banters him. ''Isn't your tongue hurting from telling an unworthy Red so much?''

''A bit, why to lie.'' Cassius turns his blade into a whip again. ''But remember, I tell you my name only because you are not expected to survive outside our walls." 

Cassius turns his back at her. With his Razor in his hand, he heads for the darkness.

"Make the most of these days, Red. It's a honor much greater than you deserve that you fallen in my hands."

And for a second - only one - he falters, but is enough for her voice to take shape: 

"A honor for me. A curse for you, Gold Brow."

Cassius smiles.

They will see about that. 


	2. Julia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Cassius tries to find something more about the one he has in his family's basement, but it is not easy with Harmony.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it is barely edited so sorry for any mistakes that may loom 
> 
> updating after 6 months because this is how i create generally

**CASSIUS**

* * *

Julia's bedroom is a sacred place, kept secured by two of her largest, most fierce Obsidians.

Not even Cassius' father dares to wander much around his wife that now deems to be unstable.

Cassius couldn't joy Karnus in his crazy impetus that led him into defending their mother. No matter how much he loves that woman, and how many good memories he has stocked in his mind, from a time Julian was still lingering in their estate, Cassius can't lie to himself. Julia is not the woman she once used to be. 

She is full of rage, but of a different kind than the one he saw in the Ruster. One even far from his own, and that same hatred for life in general reached to be beyond any other feeling.

Love, reducing her motherly feelings into something weird, twisted and hard to understand. However, no matter how crazed she may seem to be, her manners didn't writhe. At this point, going strongly to six decades of life, Julia could never leave behind what made her one of the most respectable women on Mars.

Her delicacy reverberates from the threshold. Her room sparkle under her direct commands, leading three servant women. When Cassius enters in, they are still roaming at the edges, fixing the surroundings to reach as close to perfection.

Julia is having her back turned at him, her face facing the sun as it arises on the skyline. He never seen his mother sleeping after the sun has risen. She at least kept this custom of hers, if others were left behind along with Julian last breath.

Cassius shakes the thought away from his head.

No.

Julian was never left behind. Julian will be avenged. 

''Mother.'' He announces his presence.

Julia turns with her face at him.

''Cassius, my dear,'' Julia purrs. ''It took you a while to reach me.''

Despite her attempts of seeming nonchalant, he can see her clenched muscles through the thin material of her dress. He can smell the tension that remained ever-lasting for the matriarch of House Bellona. 

Cassius approaches, faltering a bit. 

''I had a few delays.''

''And whose fault is that?'' The woman asks, an eyebrow rising on her still-young face. 

The Gold man weaves his fingers together, watching as the servant women slip away. They are silent and obedient to Julia's tacit orders. Her mother's eyes are enough to send the strongest commands in the entire household. 

''Mine, mother. I am sorry.''

Julia flinches her head.

''My dear boy, you have a too gentle soul. It is what killed your innocent brother.'' 

Her eyes darken as she talks and Cassius, not having any other choice but to listen, stiffens in front of them.

All their discussion are downplayed to this point. 

''He always thought of others. How to not disturb them. Hours spent into roaming in his way too innocent mind answers at only one question," Julia's voice is solemn.

Her eyes are no longer aiming Cassius.

"How to help and lift others worms in the thrones he deserved to sit on. In the end, what did it bring him?'' Sorrow is flickering in her eyes. ''Death.''

Her gaze darts up to him, finally seeing her son. Sometimes he feels as nothing but the debris left behind Julian.

Cassius' heart is weighing tons.

If his desire to avenge Julian has it's moments of snoozing when he is not around his mother, the pain that transfigures her is enough to abet it into waking up.

''So, tell me, what did hold you back? Were my servants slow? Or were the Rusters causing trouble?''

"The Rusters are mere Rusters, mother," Cassius responds instead. "They can't cause any harm to men like me." 

"Don't jinx!" She hurries to say, her index flinching softly in the air. "You never know what these beasts have stored for you."

Cassius curves his mouth.

"They can have whatever they want stored in their minds for me. It doesn't mean they will ever be able to fulfill their dreams." 

Her mother chews absent on her lip, her gaze once again bypassing her son. It searches for the horizon. 

"You can never know what an animal is capable to do for survival," She tells him, not seeming as any of her words would be addressed to him. "You have to watch your back. Always. No matter how light was the time for you. No one is too weak to kill you in this mad world." 

Cassius swallows hard. The surroundings are all sparkling, memories and photos are all on shelves of white oak. They are the type of things Julia finds to be of the greatest value.

A room with only his mother into it is enough to make him feel claustrophobic, but she has chosen this place. Her will was stone and her words were iron. 

They waited for her to change her mind. The Gold ladies closer to her insisted for her to choose something to match her status, her title and her story: all about luxury and comfort. 

However, ever since Julian's death, his mother is no near the woman she once was. She became a woman of past and grief. 

Cassius clears his throat.

"Why did you call me here?" 

His mother startles, staring blankly at him for a second. 

"Yes, yes. I am sorry. I almost forgot about that," She nods, shifting with her back at him and face at the balcony. "I keep getting lost into...these things." She whispers the last part — Cassius feels as a spectator in a discussion of his mother to herself. "Come, Cassius. I want to show you something." 

He follows, obedient as it was prescribed deeply in his blood to be in front of the power house his mother ha always been.

They both reach the balcony, slow steps and silent to accompany both.

"Do you see the sun rising? And the horizon expanding beyond our view?"

It is not a question. It is a statement that didn't once required his answer.

"It belongs to us. To you, my son." 

Cassius crosses his arms behind his back, watching where her eyes were. He sees the garden, as it always was. Big, imposing, a physical kingdom onto the one their sheer name is.

Trees are having their crowns absorbing the light of the sun and a green plateau is reverberating freshness. 

But it doesn't reach them. It never did. 

Julia's eyes tell him that she sees something so much beyond. 

"You look confused," She tells him, putting a hand on his. "And I don't like that."

His mother wraps her finger around his hand, gripping him. Once, it felt like a source of cosiness. 

Glancing at the dark flicker in her eyes, though, his thoughts long changed.

"Confusion means weakness and weakness brings death. Death carries something much worse with it than you may realise at this ripe age." 

"What is it, mother?" He asks. 

Her hand tightens on his and he can feel the rage of a matriarch starting to show it's teeth.

"Humiliation." She mutters through clenched teeth. "Humiliation of having your name dragged into mud. The existence of your killers still occupying the Solar System. This is the humiliation you don't get to see." Julia scrutinizes him. "Your enemies know what you own and for it, they will sling their foolish weapons." 

"Those weapons can't touch me. You said it yourself, mother. They are foolish." 

But the finch of a muscle on her cheek tells Cassius that his response was far from being the one desired. 

"Precautions," She hisses her word. "Precautions need to be taken. _Always_. And for you to survive long enough to own the lands of this planet you need to become a man."

Her words feels like the cold blade milling his guts.

Cassius furrows his brows. 

"I don't think I understand."

"I brought you those Reds and I don't want to see them killed," 

The man steps back, leaving his hand to slip from her grip. 

"Then why bother hauling them all the way here?"

A smile looms at the edge of her mouth.

Only a shy wrinkle betrays Julia's true age. 

"You don't understand anything," She whispers, her eyes snapping up like a lightning. "I want them to see them paying for disobeying us. Is the first true exercise you have to go through so you can truly take a toll against that _lout_."

Not able to fight against a corrosive instinct, Cassius bows his eyes. He doesn't face his mother as he talks again:

"You can't compare him to Reds."

"There is no difference for me. I am a Bellona. To my eyes, they are all ants that deserve to be eliminated," 

Her soft fingertips touch his chin. His head rises at her command. 

"And so they are to you Why don't you own your heritage with pride?" 

"I do. I really do." 

"Then show it," Julia unravels her teeth. "Be an eagle and fight for your honour, Cassius. What you do right now is to bash on the memory of your brother and to toss your prestige to the trash!" 

His mother presses a finger to his heart.

Looking at her, sometimes, he is not sure if hers was still beating, or only pumping blood.

"Hurl it aside, if you need to," She whispers on honeyed voice. "Between it and your brother's memory, choose your brother."

*

"Okay, Ruster. I see you keep your bold mask on, so I am inclined to think my tactics are not up to your standards." 

The woman looks up at him, defying him with a smirk. 

"Not at all. I am quite disappointed." 

"How does it sound to you that I put my," Cassius mimics quotation marks with his fingers. "Big boy pants and track your family. I take it here and kill it. Right in your face."

The woman merely shrugs to his odious words.

"You can do it, but I am afraid it will take a bit more than a pair of big boy pants and fuel to your shitty ships to get to the Vale and bring them back. If you ask me, it ain't worth it." 

Shock runs through him, but Cassius doesn't let it disturb his focus. He remains unflinching in front of the woman. 

"Okay, no family, but friends? How good does this scenario sounds with your friends?" 

The Ruster chortles.

"Good luck finding them." She leans in front. "Goldbrow, I don't have friends."

"This is the kind of pathetic speech a person who tries to protect their friends would pull out."

"Then let it be," She mutters, propping her head to the stone wall. "I just wanted to spare you from bloody big amount of lost time. My heart is as dark as a bottomless hole. All I know is partners," The Red flicks her head to side. "One of which your brother just stomped to death, most probably."

Cassius snorts.

"Goryhell with your soul, Ruster. You are such a cold being," He bellowed, grabbing her face. "No tear shred... no regret in your eyes. At least twist your face for a bit, act like you care for your terrorist friend."

Cassius drags her closer, brutalizing her brittle body, but not doing anything to wipe the flicker in her eyes. 

She faces him as he would be one of her little, pathetic partners.

"Killing was mandatory last time I checked," She grins. "Isn't it the case when you pump toxic crap in the ventilation of those poor bastards that work to sustain your ass?" 

"Mm," Cassius squeezes her cheeks together. "Keep going."

Not once pain traverse her eyes. 

"You see them drop dead,'' The woman squints her eyes. ''Piles over piles of weak people not knowing what happens with their decomposing innards, and watch...," Her face contorts with every word. Not of pain, but of the spite she has in veins: "No tear shred. No regret in your eyes."

"Such an inspiring speech. Ares would be impressed, I am sure." 

"I don't exist to impress." 

His fingers deepen in her cheeks. There is a jarring feeling left behind by the texture of her burn, brushing on his fingertips.

But there is something even more disturbing in the way the muscles beneath her eye twitch. 

"Then what do you exist for?" 

"I exist to kill people like you. I exist to _blow_ them up.'' 

His jaw clenches and so does his fingers. His nails sinks in her skin. Her mouth crinkles in pain, but his heart doesn't throb with the pleasure he so longed for. 

''How does a weak Ruster kill people like me?''

Her tongue rolls gracefully as she talks:

''Laughing.''

A drop of blood is all that this Red woman, in her fierce madness, has squeezed from him. A red line spreads on her cheek. He watches the blood tumble and between them, he seems the only preoccupied of the pain she feels. 

Cassius lets her go from his vise and rises on feet. 

''You are a beast,'' He tells her. 

''Been called worse.'' 

Steps announce an unwelcome presence. Cassius' head snaps up, knowing, from the heaviness of them, who he should expect.

The Ruster closed his eyes already as Cassius turns his gaze to warn her to leave her lips sealed.

Why is he even trying to nudge this brainless monster from her own stupidity?

Perhaps he is the fool here, after all. 

''Gorydamn it,'' Karnus shouts, widely opening his arms. ''It is so quiet, I may as well think this is the meeting of two expired crones,''

Karnus' presence from behind shadows leaves Cassius with a pair of knitted brows and a lot of tense muscles. 

From the way his big brother scrutinizes him, he may have as well observed that.

And relish on the view.

''Come on, Cass, double the decibels. You can even triple them!'' His eyes fall on the woman. ''Your big brother will not be upset over some sweet Ruster screams, if it is what keeps the beast inside." 

Cassius steps in, blocking Karnus' way to the Red woman.

Gold eyebrows cocks in surprise on his face. 

"Your presence here is what keeps the beast inside." 

"My presence?" He asks, with mimicked pain. "Come on, Cass,"

Karnus hits him in the shoulder. Cassius flinches on his feet.

It was too powerful to be a brotherly gesture.

"I am as quiet and subtle as a kitty. You don't even sense my presence," 

Cassius puts a hand on the wounded shoulder. He scowls to his brother. 

"So, just admit already that you are a pussy and that's why I don't see this gory piece of useless meat drowning in her own fucking blood!" 

Karnus hurries to the Red, but Cassius keeps the shielding intact, making Karnus stumble into him. It was a great thrust that hit Cassius in that moment. In spite of shortened breath, he doesn't let weakness slip from him. His eyes clash with Karnus'. 

"Just go." He snarls to his older brother. 

"Ah, I see," Karnus laughs. "You are tough," He grabs Cassius by his shirt. "But you picked the wrong person to be tough with, Prince Charming."

Cassius unravels his teeth. 

"Don't be a measly man for once and respect mother's wish. This is my Red," He snatches himself away. "Just because you played with yours enough to break it doesn't give you any gory right to come interfere with what's mine."

"Huh." Karnus snorts. 

A muscle on his powerful jaw twitches. 

"So it is how you wanna it to be."

His eyes fall once again on the Ruster. When Cassius steps again in front of her, he is blocking Karnus' view.

His thinned lips don't scream joy, but Cassius doesn't care what is inside his brother. He can bare the powerful clash of their gazes.

Karnus pulls out the coldness smirk. 

"See you later, little brother," He grumbles, turning on heels. "We will see how you will enjoy your words when they will strike you down."

Cassius watches his steps.

They are small and not at all hurried. 

He doesn't stop from following his shadow until he is far enough. He turns around to face the Red.

He wants to admonish her. He wants to scream at her. 

But it is a sudden paddle of light that closes his mouth. 

His turning is too slow. Karnus punches him in the stomach, making him yelp and dangle rearwards. When his head snaps up again, Karnus is already with his fingers in the Red's hair. 

"I didn't remain sober for this shit!" He spews to her. "Did you hear me, Red bitch?! You think you are tough?" 

The Ruster breaks out in a laughter. Karnus pushes her head to the wall and a crack emerges. 

Cassius's heartbeat winces.

"Karnus, step aside!" He shouts. "Now!"

"I can break every single one of your bones in under a minute without sweating once," Karnus spits in her face.

As soon as Cassius stretches a hand to grab him, Karnus snaps his face to him. It is twisted by rage. 

"If you are not able to make this bitch suffer," 

He punches her, releasing her just once her head recoils. The Red unleashes a scream.

"I will! And I will do it with the kind of pleasure your stupid ass could never experience."

His face is few centimetres away from Cassius'. Karnus is fuming from his nostrils, but Cassius is not afraid.

Not now, with all the wrath inside him. 

"I have my ways to make this Red suffer and none are your gory business, Karnus," His lips twitches as he talks.

His entire system is heating up.

"Now step aside and make yourself useful." 

"Your ways," He chortles. "Your ways!" 

Karnus pushes him.

"You are nothing but a weak princess. Never forget that." 

Cassius watches how he goes away, this time for good. There is not even a bit of space for any of his muscles to loosen from the tension that squeezes him. 

But he needs to calm down.

The Gold breathes in, sucking in the disgusting smell of blood. 

He is not Karnus.

He then breathes out.

He is not here to monkey.

When he looks down again to the woman, he sees her face speckled with blood. 

This is what to monkey mean. This is what being a weak man is truly about. 

She is a Red.

She is not worth the have her blood spilling and gushing on their property.

After watching once again to see if Karnus is truly gone, Cassius squads down in front of her. 

"What are you trying to achieve?" He asks her. "Do you want to prove to us that you are strong? That you are dedicated to the cause? Or that you are gorydamned crazy?"

The Ruster spits blood near his leg. This time it is not in his face, at least. 

"What do _you_ try to achieve?" Is her answer. "Trying to show the goodness of your heart in this merciless world?" When she grins, he sees her mouth stained as well by scarlet blood. "Fuck you and your mama, Goldbrow. You are not proving shit to me." 

"For a moment, I thought you were more intelligent than that." 

"I am a Red. What do you expect?" 

Truly. 

What does he expect? 

"Take advantage of what you have. This punch is nothing compared to what Karnus would've done to you if it was not for me," 

"My saviour." She banters. 

Cassius shakes his head. 

"Just because I don't punch you," Cassius says, lifting himself up. "Doesn't mean I will not make you pay for everything you have done." 

She sustains his gaze. In her way. Her eyes are almost glued together from the injuries, but he can still make of the hatred, the filth, and the anger in her gaze.

"Can't wait. It's getting kind of boring out here." 

"You are less than an animal in my eyes and the reason why I don't hit you," He stretches his hands in front of her, letting his sigils shine in the darkness. "Is because you don't deserve these to touch you." 

"Do you want me to kiss them?" 

Cassius smiles. 

What a monstrous woman. 

"Better to reign in Hell than to serve in Heaven, said Milton," Cassius says, leaving his hands to fall slack besides his body. "This is what you are going for," 

"I am not going for philosophies. I go for reality." 

"And isn't it a reality? In your world?" 

This time, it takes her long to respond. Her red eyes remain on his.

Her mouth is closed, yet not speechless and a smirk talks before her. 

"You can say it as such." 

He bends over, his face being close enough so a curl of his to fall on her nose. 

"Ungrateful people will see paradises as slavery. This is how hell is born,''

''I love hell.''

Cassius unravels his teeth.

''These people, people like you, deserve every moment melting in the waters they boiled with their own hands."

"Do kids know how to boil the waters?" The Red asks, to his surprise. 

Cassius straightens his position.

"Asking for all the mothers here that lost their children to your reign." 

And there was it.

The glimmer of pain he so waited for. The one like none from before. Running through her pupils, it hides through shadows of rage, not once being less sly than her. 

"You have children," He mutters. 

"Had," She corrects him. "But it doesn't matter. Only Golds can seek revenge for their dead."


End file.
